Chapter Text
CHAPTER ONE
The soil slips away from her closed fist, scattering in the wind.
"You know, a person could get pretty lost around here if they wanted to."
As the creature dispersed into the Void just moments before. -Why?-
"What do you think?"
By her own hand. -Why?-
"What should we do?"
"I don't know, I'm a stranger here myself", she's tired. No, she's exhausted. Drained. She should, -would-, be dead. So that she doesn't feel anything anymore. -"How can you stand being what you are?"-
"Ripley…", Call brushes her arm shyly with her fingertips, in an awkward attempt to be of some comfort to her. The clone winces under her touch, but she forces herself to maintain the slight contact. The image of her face contorted in pain as she faced the creature only minutes before startled her at that time, but it made her realize that somewhere, behind that imperturbable facade, the old Ellen Ripley still lurks, human and sometimes, even vulnerable. She knows her comfort attempt is too weak to make a difference, but it's all she can offer her right now.
"You know, it's okay to feel sad, after what happened. That creature... she... you... you had no choice", she says softly, watching her nodding with a contracted look on her face. Her hand slides between her shoulder blades.
"You should get some rest", the android suggests, softening her tone and stroking her shoulders.
The clone swallows audibly, inhales a deep sigh, and straightens her back. Part of her just wants to shake off that caring hand. But when Call breaks the contact, to get up from the rock they're both sitting on, she immediately misses it.
"I'm going to go do a damage report. When you're ready to go back in, I'll find you a place to sleep, okay?", the Auton looks at her until Ripley affirmatively nods her head, then turns her back on her, heading towards the Betty. Before disappearing beyond the hatch, she turns one last time towards her, and realizing that the woman is looking at her, she sketches a sad smile, hoping in vain to be reciprocated.
The girl disappears inside the Betty, before Ripley decides to return that small gesture of support. She wonders how it is possible for an android to have such a wide repertoire of smiles. Each one appropriate for a given situation. This one was certainly not like the one she saw her wearing on more than one occasion.
The first time she'd seen it, one of those many smiles, she hadn't been the one to cause it. It had been Vriess, unknowingly. When he had emerged from that elevator, only with a few xenomorph acid burns on him. The first, real, genuine smile her eyes had ever witnessed. Or at least, the first in her recent existence. The first one she could remember clearly, at least.
Witnessing that performance, conflicting emotions had struggled within her. Wonder, as she watched her features soften and expand, and stretch, as her full lips curved upward. And to that image etched in her memory, her features responded instinctively by mimicking her facial expression.
It only lasted a few moments, before she is reminded that only a few minutes before Vriess had caught up with them, it had not been with the same gaze that she had greeted her within the group of fugitives. The expression of disgusted distrust she had reserved for her had struck her more than the unkind words with which she had described her to the others.
And the smile from just before quickly fades. She never expected her to look at her like that. Not after showing her so much mercy, in her cell. -"I can make it all stop, the pain, this nightmare, that’s all I can offer you"-
But perhaps she had brought it on herself, given the ambiguity with which she had treated her during that first meeting and the abrupt way she had finally thrown her out of her cell.
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"Vriess, the comms?", the android approaches her friend, still sitting at the command console of the battered shuttle.
"Everyone's focused on the Auriga crash. I think we can take it easy for a few days. The Betty blends in perfectly with this landscape, it will be very difficult for them to notice us. If we're lucky, we'd have time to at least patch up the worst damages", the man informs her in a tired voice.
"Okay, where's Johner?", the girl asks looking around.
"Your cabin is a brothel, Ironside!", the giant mutters as he re-enters from the back of the ship, carrying an old wheelchair over his head. "The thermal shields are fucked up on deck B. Half the quarters are crap, all swallowed up by breaches in the hull, almost got through that", he ends by slamming the old garrison next to his pirate companion.
"How is Elgyn's quarters?", the boy asks thoughtfully, moving nimbly to his wheelchair.
"The only intact, along with mine and the one of the toaster here", the man approaches the android roughly, squaring her from head to toe with a disgusted face.
Call has had enough, with a sudden movement she jumps on his neck, hurling him sonorously to a wall. With one hand clasped around his throat and the other firmly anchored to his genitals, Johner's every attempt to free himself is futile.
The man stops struggling almost immediately, suddenly more concerned about the fate of his own crotch than the difficulty in breathing.
Ripley reaches the Betty at a great stride, alarmed by the clanging sound she has heard coming from inside. The android's voice comes to her ear even before she has reached the entrance. She freezes, intrigued by Call's calm tone. She strains her ear, her body contracted, in silence.
"Toaster has gotten fucking sick of your rudeness, asshole! And since she has no more reason to hide behind the facade of the helpless little girl, you'd better learn to hold your tongue, if you care to keep all your useless appendages attached to you", the young woman hisses just inches from his ear.
The hybrid snorts a smile, pleasantly amused, surprised and intrigued by her audacity. A surge of pride in her peeps unexpectedly into some part of her consciousness. She recoils, eager to see as well as hear, and crosses the threshold of the shuttle.
"Even sociopaths and psychopaths often speak in the third person, I wouldn't piss-take her, if I were you", the hybrid makes her entrance, first casting a quick glance at Johner, still pressed against the wall of the vehicle, and then fixing her eyes in those of the android, with a raised eyebrow and an admiring smirk between her lips.
Call immediately lets go of the man's grip, caught off guard. She looks at her, feeling judged in her aggressive outburst, astonished to discover that Ripley is far from shocked by her act of rebellion.
The pirate scrapes his throat, bringing a large, rough hand to his neck, aching from Call's formidable grip. He dares to glare at her, taking advantage of the girl's moment of distraction by the clone's entrance. -Little Call my ass! She's stronger than expected, fucking robot!-
"Okay, Vriess, go get some rest in Elgyn's quarters. You go too, Johner. I'll start cleaning up", Call orders in a peremptory tone.
"What, you're in charge now?", Johner growls spitting spittle. He just doesn't fucking like being bossed around by a battery-operated bitch!
"Then you really don't understand a damn fucking shit!", Ripley exclaims in exasperation.
"I'm in charge!", Vriess imposes, straining to maintain a firm tone. His eyes dart between the surviving comrades, attempting to look more confident than he actually is. "After Elgyn and Christie, it's up to me to lead the Betty. And Call is right, we need to rest. Go to sleep, Johner", the man dismisses him, validating the android's decisions, who in return, with an affirmative nod, conveys her support.
Johner spits on the floor, squaring all three of them from head to toe in a final show of challenge, after which he disappears with great stride.
Vriess takes his leave shortly after, maneuvering the rusty, squeaky vehicle. It's a lucky thing that among the cabins that have remained intact is Elgyn's, not only because it has the biggest and most comfortable bed of all, which in itself would be more than enough of an incentive, but above all because of what he expects to find in the safe, of which at the moment he's the only one who knows its existence, location and above all its code.
"Come on", the android turns her back on her, heading down the dark hallway.
"Apparently you don't need any help getting some souvenirs", Ripley jokes, hearing her snort. "I knew you were a badass", she adds, as they cross the threshold of what appears to be a small mess-hall. Call reaches for a tall cabinet, opens it and reaches out, attempting to reach the higher shelf.
"Badass, but dwarfy", the clone jokes, coming to her aid. She looks her straight in the face, with a raised eyebrow and an expression of fake mockery, as she raises an arm and grabs a handful of wrappers, apparently all the same, depositing them in the young girl's hands.
The young woman rolls her eyes, looking amused. Strangely, she is not bothered by Ripley's joke, far from it. After all that has happened, the fact that the woman is still willing to joke is more than admirable.
Encouraged by her reaction, the clone decides to continue kidding.
"I mean, they could have built you even a little taller, your creators, don't you think?", she chuckles. Call snorts a smile, blushing and biting her lower lip.
"Don't do that thing", the other tells her, trying to acknowledge the feeling that reaction provoked.
"What thing?", Call asks in a mocking tone.
"That shit you do with your face when you get shy", Ripley specifies. She just wanted to make her laugh, but as had happened before, she'd just witnessed so much more than she'd tried to achieve. -"You want another souvenir?"- Eyes glittering over an uncertain smile, sudden blush on her cheeks, a small bite on her bottom lip. And for a moment, just a moment, Ripley had forgotten to breathe. "It's distracting", she adds, not quite sure why, but knowing it's the truth.
The android moves a step, invading her personal space, challenging her in all her height, stopping a few inches from her imposing body, her head tipped back so she can look straight into her eyes.
Ripley wins the urge to back away, slightly confused by the other's attitude, and for a moment her eyes lock on her lips.
"Well, go complain to my makers", Call playfully exclaims, handing her one of the wrappers. "Eat", she orders.
The clone obeys, getting serious again, following her back into the hallway. Why the fuck did they have to make it so realistic? She keeps forgetting that she's dealing with a robot, dammit! A construction, a programmed one, for fuck's sake! She shakes her head, pushing away the discomfort of that thought.
The army bar she's chewing on is fucking hard to swallow, more because of its floury texture than its total lack of flavor. After rummaging through two damaged-walled quarters for clean clothes, Call motions her into a third one.
What does it mean -that shit you do with your face when you get shy-? It's my fucking face! Who knows what my creators had in mind! And what does it mean -it distracts me-? Call has never found herself asking such questions before. None of the humans she met ever complained about her face!
"You can take a shower if you want", the android tells her, depositing the pile of clothing on the bunk. Through the tiny interior door she has just opened, the older woman glimpses a small bathroom. Call walks back towards her after refilling a glass.
"Try to get some rest, I'll stay on watch for the night", she adds, handing her the water.
"What can we do about your wound?", Ripley asks her, remembering the shot the girl took. She watches her open and close her mouth a few times, as if caught off guard by her question. She swallows the contents of the glass in a few gulps, relieved to wash the remains of the bland meal she just consumed out of her mouth.
"It will mend itself when I recharge", the android cuts in.
"Does it hurt?", the woman asks, intrigued.
"No, it's just… feels weird", the girl replies a little uncomfortably.
"Is there some threat of it getting worse if you keep moving?", Ripley is strangely anxious, unsure if it's the thought of being left alone in a moment, or the idea that the girl, -the android-, could be in danger.
"No, it's being...", Call hates to talk about herself, her artificial nature, she sighs heavily and forces herself to give a little explanation, "the nanobots in my lymph circuitry have already sealed the damaged vases", she says as she starts towards the door. "Rest", she insists, and with a half-smile, takes her leave of her quarters.
Ripley drops heavily to sit on the cot. She exhales deeply, suddenly seized by physical as well as mental exhaustion. She closes her eyes, but the image of Call smiling at her is still too vivid in her mind.
The first time she had caused that reaction, she hadn't decided to do it. It had just happened. -"You’re programmed to be an asshole?"- Witnessing that marvel had elicited a hilarity in her that she hadn't been able to contain, and she wouldn't have even known how to, since it was really the first time she'd ever laughed. -"You're the new asshole model they’re putting out?"-
What a funny sound her words had made, coming out of her mouth as she chuckled, hoping to prolong the reaction on Call's face as much as possible.
It was then, that she had noticed how different this smile was, from the one she had seen on her face when her friend had reappeared, safe and sound. It wasn't the same at all! That had only been an expression of relief and joy at seeing a friend healthy and safe. This had been so much more! At first only the corners of her mouth had curled, and a series of tendons and nerves, synthetic and absolutely invisible, and incredibly identical to those of a human face, endowed with exceptional mimicry, had transmitted the expression to her eyes. But when Ripley had pressed on, the girl had closed her eyes and instinctively turned away, trying to overcome the feeling by pressing her lips together.
As if to hide the positive reaction her jokes elicited from her. As if she was ashamed to have reacted like that. As if she had no right. To laugh. After all, she was just an android. There was nothing to laugh about.
She forces herself to take off her boots and the clothes stuck on her. She forces herself to get into the tiny shower and wash off all the crap she's accumulated during the long hours of the attack and escape. She has no idea how much has passed. Not that it matters at all.
She slips on a pair of panties and a shirt found among the pile of clothes on the bunk, and without bothering to move it elsewhere, lies down, exhausted. The pillow smells of a vague fruity fragrance. The same one she smelled when Call visited her in her holding cell, before everything happened.
That time, too, she'd paused to watch her lips, more carefully than the fleeting glance that had escaped her just moments before. But it had been different then. That little creature had been the first, -the only fucking one-, who had shown her compassion and kindness. Who had treated her as a living thing and not as an object to be studied, poked at, teased, just to see what her reaction would be. And meticulously note everything down for study purposes. Of course she was intrigued! It had been like being confronted with a whole new species. Her memories were still so fuzzy. What was that being? Why was she saying those things to her? Why was she offering to grant her death? She had almost succumbed to the temptation, before her survival instincts took over.
She closes her eyes, refusing to linger any longer on certain thoughts, and after a short while falls heavily asleep.